Other Alternative Energy Concepts

From Cow Pies to Clear Skies

Written by Crave Brothers Dairy |

From Cow Pies to Clear Skies: A Wisconsin Family Dairy Farm Lets Nothing Goes to Waste As Their Holsteins Help Produce Clean Energy
2/20/2008

The green movement is sweeping the food industry. From the "buy local" trend, to the increase in composting, to the demand for energy-efficient equipment and facilities, every segment of the industry is seeking more and better ways to be environmentally responsible and sustainable. In an inspiring example of finding a greener way to do business, the Crave Brothers Dairy Farm and its cheesemaking enterprise, Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, have a sophisticated, computer-controlled anaerobic digestion system that generates electricity -- enough to run their rural Wisconsin farm and cheese plant and power up to 120 homes - that runs on organic waste from their 750 pampered and productive Holsteins.

Turbines in the St. Lawrence

Written by National Geographic Documentary |

Video Clip on Verdant Energies Project that is putting turbines in the East River in New York City. This spring they will be putting them in the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall, Ont. Canada across from the Mohawk Reservation.

From the show "Man-Made", a series on the National Geographic network

The East River in New York carries aqua-power past power-hungry buildings every day. Putting them together is the challenge.

Click the button below to watch the video, then browse hundreds of other videos from NGC's award-winning programming

'Dead-end' Austrian Town Blossoms With Green Energy

Written by Jonathan Tirone, New York Times |

By Jonathan Tirone, New York Times

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

GÃœSSING, Austria — For decades, the Austrian town of Güssing was a forgotten outpost not far from the rusting barbed-wire border of the Iron Curtain. Now it's at the edge of a greener frontier: alternative energy. Güssing is the first community in the European Union to cut carbon emissions by more than 90 percent, helping it attract a steady stream of scientists, politicians and eco-tourists.

Underwater Turbine Nearly Ready for a Test Drive

Written by Tux Turkel, Maine Sunday Telegram |

February 20, 2010

BY TUX TURKEL, Maine Sunday Telegram

EASTPORT -- Close by the Canadian border, this stretch of Downeast Maine is known worldwide for its high tides and strong ocean currents. Peak tides rush in and out of Cobscook Bay at 7 miles per hour. From a boat, it's easy to appreciate the force of the water as it piles up against a large, white buoy moored off Shackford Head.

One of two new all composite hydro kinetic turbines that will be installed off the waters of Eastport, Me.

(Photo by John Patriquin)

Early next month, if all goes well, that buoy will anchor the country's largest ocean energy device -- an underwater turbine that turns the bay's surging tides into electricity. Dubbed the Energy Tide 2, the turbine will be a final demonstration before a commercial-scale generating unit is launched, hopefully next year. For nearly a century, area residents have dreamed of producing power from moving sea water, and tapping the economic potential that could flow with it. Now they feel close, closer than any time since the 1930s, when historic plans to impound and funnel the bay fell apart.

Madrid Farmer Turning Switchgrass into Biofuel

Written by Martha Ellen, Watertown Times |

By MARTHA ELLEN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2010

MADRID — Farmer Thomas E. Lee is keeping warm with what he grows. Mr. Lee has been growing switchgrass — identified by the U.S. Department of Energy as a crop with excellent biomass potential — for several years, planting more annually for a total of 25 acres. "I'm trying to find out if people are interested in burning grass and giving them an option," he said.

Last year, Mr. Lee bought machinery that allows him to turn the switchgrass — cut and baled and then ground — into large pellets.
"They look a lot and burn a lot like charcoal briquettes," he said. "I've been burning them in my wood stove in the shop. It burns real well. It throws a lot of heat. I have no way of accurately measuring how much heat there is."